Top 10 Marijuana (cannabis) Victories in 2010
(in no particular order)First:
New report showing US Prohibition Doesn’t Work, Regulation Needed
Look, we need to get a handle on this, and putting your head down and running into a problem fixes nothing, it breaks things. We need intelligent thought, not 1950s style mentality, useless punishment paradigms.
Among the report’s findings:
* The annual overall budget for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy increased by more than 600%; growing from approximately $1.5 billion in 1981 to more than $18 billion in 2002 (the last year reliable figures were available).
* Between 1990 and 2006, cannabis-related arrests increased by 150%, while cannabis seizures increased by more than 400%.
* The estimated retail cost of cannabis decreased from $37 per gram in 1990 to $15 per gram in 2007.
* Cannabis has remained almost “universally available” to American youth during the last 30 years of prohibition.
- and now, the report itself.
And finally, that top ten list:
1. NEW JERSEY LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA
2010 started with
a bang when New Jersey's outgoing Democratic governor signed a bill that made
New Jersey the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana. (Unfortunately, the
new Republican governor has conspired with his state health department to delay
and subvert the new law from taking effect and -- now one year later --
patients still do not have legal access to medical marijuana.)
2. WASHINGTON,
D.C. LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Voters in our
nation's capital passed a medical marijuana initiative with 69% of the vote in
November 1998. After Congress blocked that law from taking effect 11 years in a
row, Congress finally removed the federal ban in the fall of 2009, and in 2010
the D.C. City Council passed legislation to implement the local law. While the
D.C. law is more restrictive than we'd like, five medical marijuana
dispensaries will be opening up within a short cab ride of Capitol Hill by the
middle of 2011.
3. ARIZONA
LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA
By a mere 50.13%
to 49.87% margin, Arizona voters passed MPP's medical marijuana initiative in
November, making Arizona the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana. As a
result, approximately 125 dispensaries will open up around the state by
mid-2011. This campaign was successful despite severely limited resources, with
MPP spending only $0.10 for each Arizona resident.
4. CALIFORNIA
INITIATIVE DEMONSTRATES RECORD SUPPORT FOR LEGALIZATION
While Prop. 19
failed at the polls on Election Day, this ballot initiative still represents
significant progress for our movement. First, the initiative received the
highest level of support (46.54%) of any of the eight legalization initiatives
ever to be placed on a statewide ballot. Second, the initiative received
support from mainstream political institutions, such as the California
affiliates of the NAACP and SEIU, the Latino Voters League, the National Latino
Officers Association, and the National Black Police Association. Third, the
initiative generated gobs of in-state and national news coverage, making
marijuana legalization a respectable topic of political debate. Fourth, the
campaign inspired the local governments and voters of three cities to pass laws
that will automatically tax marijuana sales once they are legal under state
law.
5.
MARIJUANA-FRIENDLY GOVERNORS ELECTED IN THREE STATES
For the first time
in memory, three gubernatorial candidates who are well known to be supportive
of decriminalizing marijuana and legalizing medical marijuana were elected on
the same day -- Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Dan Malloy (D-CT), and Peter Shumlin
(D-VT). As a result, all three states are likely to pass favorable legislation
in 2011.
6. THREE STATES
REGULATE/EXPAND MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS
While state
governments sometimes tweak their existing medical marijuana laws, Colorado's
government did much more than that in 2010 when it passed a new law for issuing
approximately 2,000 licenses to medical marijuana retailers, growers, and
kitchens; as a result, medical marijuana businesses are now scattered around
the state like pharmacies. Also, Maine's health department issued regulations
to establish eight medical marijuana dispensaries, building on the MPP-authored
ballot initiative that Mainers passed with nearly 59% of the vote in November
2009. And, to close out 2010, New Mexico's health department increased the
number of dispensaries in the state to 25.
7. LOCAL
INITIATIVE VICTORIES IN FOUR STATES
In Massachusetts,
voters in nine legislative districts passed initiatives recommending that
medical marijuana be legalized on the state level; in another nine legislative
districts, Massachusetts voters recommended that marijuana be legalized
entirely. In Wisconsin, voters in two local jurisdictions urged their state
legislature to legalize medical marijuana. In California, voters in two cities
blocked dispensaries from being banned. And in Colorado, voters in 8 cities and
counties voted to allow dispensaries (this overt support is significant, even
though voters in another 34 Colorado municipalities decided to ban
dispensaries).
8. VETERANS
AFFAIRS RECOGNIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA
For the first time
since 1978, a federal agency recognized marijuana's therapeutic value when the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a new policy in 2010, stating that
veterans who use medical marijuana legally under state law would no longer be denied
other prescription medications or treatments.
9. TWO GOOD COURT
DECISIONS IN CALIFORNIA
In the
"Anaheim" case, a California appellate court found that federal law
doesn't prevent cities and counties from licensing medical marijuana
dispensaries. And in a separate case, a California superior court blocked an
L.A. City Council ordinance that would have wiped out most dispensaries in the
second largest city in the U.S. (Neither case has reached its final conclusion
yet, however.)
10. CALIFORNIA
IMPROVES EXISTING DECRIMINALIZATION LAW
In 1975,
California decriminalized marijuana, meaning that people who were apprehended
with up to an ounce of marijuana could not face jail time. In 2010, the
California government improved this law by changing marijuana possession from a
criminal misdemeanor to a civil infraction, meaning that -- in addition to not
facing jail time -- small-time marijuana offenders will no longer have to
appear before a judge, pay court costs or hire a lawyer, or get stuck with a
criminal record.
From MPP.org
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